Thoughts about a Tragedy

I have very mixed feelings about Fashion Week continuing its program during the 10-year memorial of the September 11th tragedy. On the one hand, it seems silly to be sitting by a runway looking at pretty clothes while the President is a few miles away solemnly paying homage to the many lives that were lost that day, and commemorating the toil of those tireless heroes who defended (and continue to defend) our nation. My mother is from New York and still has family there, and the sudden panic followed by phone call after phone call in our house that day is something I never wanted to look back on. I have a mind to say that it is ignorant, even if the event did not affect you directly, to just sit by and conduct business as usual. This is a time when our nation will unite in suffering and hope, and to simply stay in your bubble during the remembrance can be contrived as almost selfish.

However, I do not think that the people of fashion week are trying in any way to be indignant or disrespectful. I think that in times like these, whether as a nation or as an individual, the most important thing to do is to look forward, and continue making steps in that direction. I know that many people think that fashion is a frivolous thing, and that it is almost foolish to consider it as important when so much else is going on in the world. Yet if it weren’t for fashion, if it weren’t for art, if it weren’t for the creative minds that spur on our nation’s innovation, then we would hardly be able to call ourselves America. We are moving forward, and every model that walks down that runway is proof of that. Industries, fashion included, should continue to portray America as an ever-booming, ever-fluid nation that does not falter. Moving on does not mean forgetting -- it means remembering while still realizing that there are greater things to be accomplished.

Daniella Ciappara 
BARE Reporter

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